Salini Impregilo has joined the short list for the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down sustainable mobility project valued at £1.6 billion (€1.8 billion) to conserve Stonehenge, one of the most important archeological sites in the United Kingdom, as well as improve the quality of life of the surrounding area, stimulate economic development and foster tourism. The project involves the construction of a dual carriageway road.

BAM Construct UK has become one of the first firms in the UK to become accredited to Kitemark standard for Building Information Modelling (BIM).

On 20 January 2020, the boards of Sirius Minerals Plc (Sirius), Anglo American plc (Anglo American) and Anglo American Projects UK Limited (Bidco) announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Sirius by Bidco (the Acquisition), to be implemented by means of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act (the Scheme).

After the UK left the European Union on 31 January, GlobalData asked the readers of Mining Technology to vote on what they expected Brexit’s effect on the UK mining industry to be. According to the 2,094 respondents, 29% saw the move as strongly positive, 28% strongly negative, 16% slightly negative, 10% slightly positive and 17% neutral.
GlobalData’s Mining Technology writer Yoana Cholteeva comments: “Brexit has already had a significant effect on the UK mineral industry. Market conditions and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit saw UK-based operator Sirius Minerals cancel a US$500m bond sale to finance its polyhalite Woodsmith project in North Yorkshire in September 2019, a mining project which would have become the biggest in the UK.

Fugro, in a consortium with AS Mosley and the PeriDynamics Research Centre at University of Strathclyde, has been announced as one of eight winners of the Carbon Trust’s Floating Wind Technology Acceleration Competition.

Balfour Beatty announced the appointment of Beth West as Managing Director of its regional construction business in the South of England.

Costain, the smart infrastructure solutions company, has appointed Simon Ellison as rail sector director.

Environmental organisation GRID-Arendal with support from the UN Environment Program has launched the world’s first publicly accessible global database of mine tailings storage facilities.

Balfour Beatty, working on behalf of Network Rail, successfully completed the electrification of 77 km of the Great Western Railway (GWR) line between Bristol and Cardiff; a significant contribution to Network Rail’s overall Greater West Electrification Programme to electrify 275 km of train line between Cardiff and London.

The boards of Anglo American plc, Anglo American Projects UK Limited ("Bidco") and Sirius Minerals Plc are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition pursuant to which Bidco shall acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Sirius (the "Acquisition"). The Acquisition is intended to be effected by means of a scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act.

By developing technology innovation and rethinking business models, a new EU-funded project hopes to improve the commercial viability of mining modest but high-grade critical raw mineral deposits across Europe.
GlobalData's mining technology writer Heidi Vella looks at the project.

Tensar’s TensarTech TR2 reinforced soil wall system was the ideal solution for a temporary raised platform, allowing the safe installation of piles for a new bridge on the Manchester Airport Relief Road Scheme.

Attendees at our Tensar Academy What if… workshop at the Institution of Civil Engineers on 19 September heard how project trials of the new Tensar T-value method have cut working platform costs by up to 30%.

A Hochtief joint venture has been awarded with a GBP 400 million contract to deliver the second phase of the London Power Tunnels (LPT2) project.  

Ten years after the inaugural summit in 2010, One Young World 2019 took place in London, England from the October 22–25. Aligned with our Manifesto vision of being passionately committed to the pursuit of a better world through positive change, Hatch had the unique opportunity to participate in the summit for the first time, sending five representatives, one from each region in which Hatch operates around the world.

Crossrail Ltd has updated the Crossrail Board on progress to complete the Elizabeth line.

Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering announced the appointment of Jane Towse-Laval as Director of Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering, responsible for providing strategic leadership to the company’s portfolio of geotechnical projects across the UK.

Technology group wishes to strengthen nonwovens business

Balfour Beatty, working in partnership with Thames Water, has saved over one million plastic bags from landfill by utilising a waste plastic asphalt on a key London cycle lane in Stratford, through the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

• A further 24 km of mechanised tunnelling and construction of 37 km underground mineral transport system
• Start of construction for Drives 2 + 3 in late June 2019
• Mining of world’s largest polyhalite deposit at Woodsmith Mine near Whitby in North Yorkshire, England, from 2021